Spatial heterogeneity can constrain the movement of individuals
and consequently genes across a landscape, influencing demographic
and genetic processes. In this study, we linked information on
landscape composition, movement behavior, and genetic differentiation
to gain a mechanistic understanding of how spatial heterogeneity
may influence movement and gene flow of bobcats in the agricultural
landscape of Iowa (USA). We analyzed movement paths of 23 animals
to parameterize landscape resistance surfaces, applied least
cost path analysis to generate measures of effective geographic
distance between DNA collection locations of 625 bobcats, and
tested the correlation between genetic distance and the different
models of geographic distance. We found that bobcats showed a
strong preference for forest over any other habitat type, and
that incorporating information on habitat composition both along
the path and in the surrounding landscape provided the best model
of movement. Measures of effective geographic distance were significantly
correlated with genetic distance, but not once the effects of
Euclidean distance were accounted for. Thus, despite the impact
of habitat composition on movement behavior, we did not detect
a signature of a landscape effect in genetic structure. Our results
are consistent with the issue of limiting factors: the high uniformity
of forest fragmentation across southern Iowa, the primary study
area, results in a landscape resistance pattern virtually indistinguishable
from the isolation-by-distance pattern. The northern portion
of the state, however, is predicted to pose a high level of resistance
to bobcat movement, which may impede the regional genetic connectivity
of populations across the Midwest.